Ireland 2-4 Malaysia
Ireland men's hockey team had to settle for a shared Test series with world number 11 side Malaysia as a burst of four goals in the space of 11 minutes saw the Asian side prevail 4-2 at Lisnagarvey.
Ireland edged the first match 3-2 on Tuesday but they couldn't contain their opponents as effectively in the second clash.
The Green Machine got off to a fast start with Tim Cross going close in the opening 10 seconds before Jeremy Duncan put Ireland 1-0 up in the third minute from a fast counter-attack.
However Malaysia were quick to respond with Razie Rahim scoring twice within a minute from two penalty corners.
Abu Kamal Azrai got the third when neat work on the baseline set him up with his shot just getting over the line before a diving clearance proved centimetres too late.
Najib Hassan then added a fourth in the 22nd minute to put Malaysia almost out of sight.
Ireland had the best of the second half, winning a string of penalty corners in the third and fourth quarters, but they only had a Luke Madeley switched effort to show for their efforts with two minutes to go.
The series has given coach Mark Tumilty food for thought ahead of the World Cup qualifiers which begin on 21 October in Cardiff with a date against Russia.
Ireland: J Carr, T Cross, M Nelson, D Walsh, N Glassey, K Marshall, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, J Duncan, B Walker, C Harte
Subs: L Madeley, K O’Dea, P McKibbin, M Robson, C Empey, S Hyland, M Ingram
Malaysia: H Othman, M Jalil, A Hamsani, S Cholan, F Ashari, S Silverius, R Rahim, F Jali, A Hasan, A K Azrai, N Jazlan
Subs: N Hassan, N Sumantri, F Saari, A Zain, A Rozemi, H Abdul, Z P Mizan
